


I'm [Not] Okay

by GirlNextDoorHitchcockBlonde



Category: Archie Comics, Archie Comics Reboot (2015), Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Abuse, Alcoholism, F/M, Sad, Self Harming, Support, cry, mental health, school setting, self discipline
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-21
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-08-05 09:12:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16365023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GirlNextDoorHitchcockBlonde/pseuds/GirlNextDoorHitchcockBlonde
Summary: Jughead is tired of his life and comparing it to Archie's, when he finally breaks down he meets an angel who has already crumbled.





	1. Hello

Life wasn’t meant to be easy or fun or happy, unlike his self-appointed best friend would have him think. Of course, all those things were great for people like Archibald Andrews, jock and musician, playboy extraordinaire with terrible and constantly changing taste in women and even worse decision-making skills. Life could be a lot of things for those who had never needed anything, those whose troubles were whether to make it to a game or a concert or having booked two dates at once. Archibald wasn’t a bad guy, he was simply terribly oblivious to reality, and well, ignorance clearly was bliss.

Jughead didn’t mind this reality most days, he just lived hour by hour, trying not to think too much of what was to come each and every day, but tonight, as he put down a blanket on the freezing, hard floor of a school maintenance closet he let himself hate his life and his situation. He was letting it slowly consume him and so, when he stepped out of the closet to head towards his locker, where he was sure he had stashed a protein bar some weeks prior, he let it boil over and began kicking and hitting the lockers with closed fists full of frustration, anger and disappointment. The cacophony of noise consuming even the darkness around him as he let tears spill over in a way they hadn’t since his mother had left him behind.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” He yelled, breathing heavily and wiping roughly at his eyes making it to his locker and reaching for his dinner. Jughead knew better than to let himself drown in the suffering, instead, he’d allowed himself a short-lived momentary outlet and now he just had to sleep, that always helped, the next day always felt like a prayer unanswered but at least during the day the school was kept warm.

“Excuse me?” Jughead nearly jumped out of his skin at the dainty, shy voice behind him, but he didn’t show it, instead, he turned slowly with a lifted eyebrow.

“Yeah?”

“Are you okay?”

The girl talking to him was an angel, perhaps he’d gone to sleep and died of hypothermia and she was here to take him, her head was slightly tilted and her eyes showed not an ounce of fear, but instead true and honest concern.

“I’m fine. Who are-What are you doing here?” He wasn’t sure what to ask, but he did know that he couldn’t let her or anyone know he was living in the school or he’d be kicked out, sent to some fancy house with people who would probably beat the shit out of him, the risk wasn’t worth the nightly meal or warm bed.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m Betty. I umm…I was working at the Blue and Gold and I guess the time escaped me.” She said it with a smile that would have convinced most anybody in the world, but Jughead wasn’t anybody, he too was avoiding going “home”

“Right. I just forgot something in my locker. I’m heading out.”

“Oh.” She said and looked down at her feet, she seemed disappointed not to have another excuse to stay just a little longer, and really, who was he to deny an angel anything at all, even whatever time he had left.

“But I don’t really have to head back for a while, Betty.”

“Oh?” She looked up hopefully. “You’re Jughead, aren’t you?” She was tilting her head again, curious, even leaning forward a little. “We have English together. You’re very smart.” There wasn’t a single millimeter of sarcasm in her voice, and that, well…that shocked him but not any more than the fact that this beautiful, dainty human being shared a class with him and he had never noticed her.

“I usually don’t go. I do most of my assignments in the office.” She didn’t say anything else, and he didn’t dare ask and push her too far, ultimately sending her away to very place she was trying to escape with this mundane conversation.

“Yeah, I’m Jughead. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around.”

“I hide well.” It was meant as a joke, he could tell by her tone and her small smile, but his eyebrows drew together with concern, why would she need to hide? Why would life take even this pleasure of looking at a beautiful person away?

“I don’t hide well enough.” Was all he said in return and she nodded as if she understood something he was certain she couldn’t know.

“The Blue and Gold has a couch.” She said then, blushing, scared of overstepping herself. “It’s old and lumpy, but I bet it’s more comfortable than the floor.” She wasn’t looking at him, too afraid to see him scoff or walk away.

“How did you-“

“I was on my way out and I saw you. I’m sorry. I wont tell, it’s not my place, I’ll respect your privacy, I’m sure you have your reasons, I just…I could make you a key to the office and I bet it’s more comfortable and warmer and I’m sorry I can’t do much else.”

“What?”

“I wish I could help.”

“Why?”

“Somebody has to.” She looked up then and he saw it, as much as she was desperate to help him, really, she was reaching for help herself, nobody was helping her from drowning, and so, she would help him in hopes he wouldn’t drown too, even not knowing him, even not knowing why he was staying at school even not having asked a single prying question.

“Who helps you? The words were out of his mouth before the thought had completely formed and he wanted to hit himself because of it, her smile morphed into something so sad it could have broken any heart.

“It’s okay. I’m okay.” She lied so easily, and still he could read her need just as easily. “I’m okay,” she said again, trying to convince herself and wrapping her arms around herself, “I’m okay,” she nearly whispered that time, and not knowing what the hell he was doing, suddenly Jughead was holding a crumbling girl to his chest while her body shook with the strength of her sobs and the string of “I’m okays” that clearly meant she wasn’t okay at all.

Whatever she was going through he had to fix it, if not for her, then for him, because if someone as beautiful as this angel couldn’t live a perfect Archibald-type of a life, then he had no chance at all.


	2. Thank you, and I'm Sorry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jughead thinks it was all a dream...until he realizes it wasn't. Betty and Jughead begin to know each other and something is odd, Jughead just can't quite figure out what it is yet.
> 
> NOTES:  
> -Unbeta'd, please forgive the mistakes!  
> -Find me on tumblr @girlnextdoorhitchcockblonde  
> -I'm trying to update this fic based on the number of comments received. If you read it and you like it, please share it, and this doesn't just go for my fics, but ALL fics <3 I know all writers appreciate it!
> 
> As always, thank you for reading!!

Jughead was sure it had all been a dream until he woke up and found himself on the couch at the Blue and Gold covered with two thick blankets. He knew he should get up, shower, get the worst part of the day out of the way, but he couldn’t help but to enjoy the warmth of the room and the softness of the lumpy couch.

The most beautiful girl in the world had cried in his arms, her body shaking, her whole body crumbling and still the only words that made it out of her mouth were “I’m okay” and “I’m sorry”. Lost, himself, he had held her and rubbed her back until slowly her body had stopped moving and her sobs turned to sniffles, he didn’t know how long it had been, and he didn’t care either.

“I’m sorry-I’m…I’m so sorry.” She said in a tone that spoke volumes of just how sorry and embarrassed she was. “I’m sorry.” She said again while she wiped at her eyes furiously trying to get back a semblance of normalcy. “I can…let me…it’s right over here.” She began walking, leaving him behind, unsure of whether he would follow or not, but of course he did. He knew the Blue and Gold Office, he also knew, or at least he’d been pretty certain, that it went unused, the school didn’t really have a newspaper anymore, they barely had a newsletter, and yet the room was pristine, clean and organized.

“Wow, you must spend a lot of time here.” He mumbled, unsure of what to say after his own outburst earlier.

“I suppose I do.” She tried for a smile but it didn’t reach her cheek, much less her eyes. “I can’t stay, I’ll….I just can’t.” She said then, making him wonder what she was going to say previously, what she was hiding, he wanted to know what in the world could make a girl like her crumble into the arms of a broken toy like him.

“Right.”

“But you should bring your things. I have plenty of room and I’m the only one ever in here, maintenance doesn’t even come in anymore. I could make you a key.”

Suddenly suspicious, sure that this was too good to be true, a gorgeous girl offering the comforts of life, he crossed his arms.

“What is this? Why are you doing this?” He was practically sure this was a sick joke by some jock or something. “Is it so you can say I stole something and call the cops on me?” His tone was accusatory, but Betty’s eyes were still puffy from crying, his own fists were sore from hitting metal and when she shook her head, no matter how tiny the movement he understood. She was lonely. “Sorry.” He said this time. “I’m not used to people helping.” She shrugged,

“Me neither.”

She had left in a hurry and with a look of panic after noticing the time and had left him with blankets having shown him where she kept a bowl of fresh fruit and an electric kettle she used for tea and Jughead had transferred his few things from the closet floor into this no longer abandoned room and bundled up like he hadn’t in close to a year. For the first time in even longer he had slept.

There was a light knock at the door and he grunted in response, he didn’t want to get up, it was so rare to be comfortable and warm, but the door opened regardless and he prepared to tell whoever it was that he was just extremely early for school and had found himself in this room magically.

“I’m sorry, did I wake you? I didn’t mean to.”

“Betty?”

“Yes?” her head was tilted in that innocent way again which he noticed only because he had managed to turn to face her, even still in his cocoon.

“What are you doing here so early?”

“I don’t like people seeing me come in and then asking things and…I told you, I’m good at hiding.” She smiled.

The night before those words had gone mostly unnoticed by Jughead but now they were ringing a bell, he just didn’t know which. Were they a quote from a film? A book He knew he had experienced them before.

“If I didn’t think it was inappropriate I’d offer you a place in this warm bundle you so graciously let me borrow. Thank you, by the way. I haven’t slept this well in over a year.” Betty nodded,

“I’m glad it was comfortable. Would you like some tea?”

“You got coffee?” He asked instead and she frowned,

“I’m sorry I…I could go get some, I didn’t think, I’m so so-“

“Tea sounds lovely.” He interrupted, seeing her start to spiral into the ‘I’m Sorrys’ just like she had into the ‘I’m okays’.

“Oh.”

“Maybe I’ll bring us some hot cocoa tomorrow.” He offered, desperately needing to make her smile.

“Oh, that would be nice. But you don’t have to. Hey…are you…umm…” She blushed, “are you dressed under there?” she didn’t point, pointing was rude, but she did let her eyes wander over the blankets.

“I am. It was way too cold to take any layers off.”

“Okay.” And with that she walked towards him and sat at the very edge of the couch, nearly falling out of it to make sure she didn’t accidentally touch him. Still wrapped up in his layers of warmth Jughead managed to sit up giving her more room and in yet another move he wasn’t sure how he did himself, he draped the blankets over her legs while the water boiled.

“Thank you for letting me stay here, seriously.”

“It’s no problem at all.” She smiled, her fingers picking at invisible lint on the blanket now on her lap. “Are your hands okay? I have bandages if you need, and antibiotic cream and-“

“I’m okay Betty.” The way her name rolled off his tongue like nobody else’s made him why he felt so comfortable around her and the way she looked at him, as if she knew things he didn’t, things he should.

Betty only nodded and scooted an inch closer. “I missed this.” She said but immediately cleared her throat and got up to make the tea when the water finally boiled. Jughead wanted to ask what she meant, but he didn’t, instead he watched move around the room easily as if she’d made a home there.


	3. Who Are You?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something about Betty rings a bell, if only he knew what it was...
> 
> NOTES:  
> -Unbeta'd, please forgive the mistakes!  
> -Find me on tumblr @girlnextdoorhitchcockblonde  
> -I'm trying to update this fic based on the number of comments received. If you read it and you like it, please share it, and this doesn't just go for my fics, but ALL fics <3 I know all writers appreciate it!
> 
> As always, thank you for reading!!

Jughead Jones liked words, even in childhood, a time of his life he tried to never think about he would look for the perfect word for any situation and so Betty’s words danced in his mind all day as he tried to figure out a puzzle he felt but had no reason to believe was there. He spent each and every class thinking of her and what he was sure were carefully picked words except for the once that rang loudest in his mind “I missed this” she had said, but what was “this”?

Earlier in the morning, before people began filing into the school, long before the sun was even out, they had sat side by side with nearly the whole couch dividing them. Breakfast had gone quietly until Betty finished her tea and finally looked away from her mug to meet his eyes.

“I’m sorry about today, I wont wake you up again, I can come a little later, I guess or I can find somewhere else to wait.” She was smiling, and he realized, she was always smiling and it was never real, it never reached her cheeks or her eyes, her very green eyes that shifted in the light poking at a memory of his though he couldn’t quite grasp which.

“Please don’t do that. I don’t mind you being here, I’m the one intruding in on your space.”

“Oh, no, this isn’t my space, I just borrow it for class I just, umm…”

“Please come? I like your company.” His words washed through her causing a deep blush to bloom on her cheeks and down her neck, she merely nodded in agreement to share another breakfast and then the time had fled them and the bell rang. She jumped up wringing her hands together,

“Have a good day, Jughead.” She said, her voice almost breaking as she hid behind the floor to ceiling bookcase.

“Right, you too.”

* * *

“Betty?” The question was accompanied by a knock on the door and a clearing of a throat. She had hidden behind the bookcase again when she’d heard noise at the door but hearing his voice made every muscle in her body relax as she peaked out and slowly walked into the main space of the room.

“Hi.”

“Hi. Do you stay this late every day?”

“Umm…yes. Until nobody sees me go home, I’m just careful.”

“Why?” He walked further into the room and closed the door behind him. The halls were long empty and eerily quiet, in the past Jughead had looked forward to this part of the day, when he was finally alone with his thoughts and his computer, even with a rumbling stomach he enjoyed time alone but today, today he couldn’t even fathom the idea of not seeing her.

“Oh. Umm…I’m not who I’m supposed to be.”

Not for the first time he felt he’d heard those words before, it was like this girl spoke in quotes and he needed to know why he felt this way, he was usually antisocial and annoyed by anyone around him but her, something about _her_ was making him wonder if his sanity was leaving him and he’d only known her for a day.

“Aren’t we all,” he finally said, putting his bag down and settling on the couch.

“I made dinner if you want some. It’s just Mac and Cheese but I’ll bring something better tomorrow but I thought you might want a hot meal but you if don’t that’s alr-.”

“Really? You made that for me?”

“Umm…yes. Well, I mean, I just thought that-“

“Thank you. Will you eat with me?”

She shuffled from one foot to the other biting her bottom lip before answering, “Umm…okay.” She smiled and for the first time it reached her eyes. “I always wanted to-umm…sorry, never mind.” She shook her head as he turned to serve them both in smallish bowls leaving hers nearly empty.

Once again they sat next to one another like they had in the morning, enjoying the meal silently.

“That is gooood Mac and cheese.” He said between bites mostly to break the silence.

“Thank you, I appreciate it, Juggie.” She said and his eyebrows furrowed.

“Nobody has called me that in a long time. Actually, I think nobody has ever called me that.” He said, thinking back, the name felt recognizable but he couldn’t think of anyone who might have ever used it.

Betty looked at the clock and sighed. “I have to go, I’m sorry to leave you alone. I promise to be back in the morning.”

“I’ll be waiting.” He smiled and watched her go, his frustration growing at his inability to understand what the hell was happening. For the second night in a row he slept and dreamt of children’s laughter, shushing sounds and a small, dainty hand holding his own.

“I’m just not who I’m supposed to be.”

* * *

“Are you having hallucinations again? Stop dreaming about being someone. You're nobody.”

“No, I’m not, I know I'm not imagining anything. Please let me go inside.”

“You shouldn’t be here, someone might see you. We don’t want that, do we?”

“No, Polly, we don’t. I’m sorry, I need to go inside so nobody sees me. I promise I’m being careful and nobody comes into the Blue and Gold ever.”

The voices woke him before he realized what he was hearing, they were coming from outside the window that faced the back of the school and though Jughead recognized Betty’s voice, he was surprised to also recognize the other one, Polly Cooper, cheerleader, popular mean girl extraordinaire, why were they talking to another. Groggy as he was he got up and near the window slowly so as to not be heard.

“I’m going to talk to mom, I don’t understand why you need to come here, you could just do the same thing at home without invading my space. You’re a freak. You’re a _ghost_. Remember that, the moment anyone sees you…what would they think of us, Elisabeth?”

“Nobody will see me. Please let me keep coming, please? Mom said that it was a good idea before I go.”

“Ugh. Go before anyone sees you,” venom dripped from her tone, “I can’t wait until you’re gone and we can finally have a normal life. You shouldn’t have been born.”

Betty’s ‘I’m sorry’ was so small Jughead nearly missed it but it was something else that had him frozen to his spot, a silly memory that couldn’t possibly be real triggered by only one word spoken.

When Betty walked through the door and saw him standing up and looking at her with wide eyes she looked at her feet and turned to leave, clearly he’d heard, and if he had then he knew she was a freak someone he shouldn’t be around, but before she managed to make her way out his voice cracked,

“Eli?”

Betty turned quickly and wiped the tears away from her eyes.

“This is not possible.”


	4. I Know You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jughead overheard a conversation that changed everything, now he's having flashbacks of memories he always thought were dreams. Could it be?
> 
> NOTES:  
> -Unbeta'd, please forgive the mistakes!  
> -Find me on tumblr @girlnextdoorhitchcockblonde  
> -I'm trying to update this fic based on the number of comments received. If you read it and you like it, please share it, and this doesn't just go for my fics, but ALL fics <3 I know all writers appreciate it!
> 
> As always, thank you for reading!!

The memory was a good one, a giggle in a forbidden place and a tiny hand over his lips to keep him quiet.

“My mommy can’t know I’m here, Juggie!” She had stage whispered in the safety of the car, where feet usually rode as they hid from the adults and whatever it was they did during their weekly visits.

“Why not?”

“Because I’m not who I’m meant to be.” She had looked so sad that he had held her hand and smiled.

“I like who you are.” He had said and in turn she had beamed her great big green eyes sparkling with hope that maybe he was telling the truth.

The memory, though felt more like a dream, an impossible truth after so many years of being sure that…

“You’re not real. You were just…an imaginary friend. A coping mechanism. You can’t be real.” He said, but even as he said it he knew that wasn’t true, the tears in her eyes were real, the pout her lips formed was real, and more than that the way she looked at him, as if asking to be saved but too scared to speak the words.

“I never told anyone that you existed I’m-Fuck, I’m going crazy.” He exclaimed, combing his fingers through his hair and pulling the beanie on for some sort of safety net, some sort of peace in whatever kind of breakdown he was having.

“Maybe it’s best if I go and you can forget me.” She finally said, voice small and scared, though what of he wasn’t sure and then she sniffled and that sound brought another memory to the forefront of his mind.

 

“Eli don’t go!” Jughead held onto her hand as hard as he could and begged her to stay.

“Think of me like an imaginary friend, Juggie, nobody can know about me. When you grow up you’ll think of me and I’ll know that I’m not lonely. Bye Juggie.” The little girl kissed his cheek, her great, big, green eyes shutting to hide the tears in them, but her sniffle gave away her sadness.

 

After that night, Jughead really thought of her as an imaginary friend, convinced himself she was just that, an imaginary friend he couldn’t tell anyone about, and then as he grew he forgot her altogether. Nobody else knew her and just like that, she became a ghost alone and unable to ever leave the confines of her home.

 

Now, in a dingy room that had gone unused for at least a decade before the appearance of this girl in front of him, he sat on the couch, elbows on knees, head in his hands. “Please stay. I…I’m trying to remember.” He said, rubbing his face time and time again, why couldn’t he remember her? Where had she been all this time? Why had she left at all? “Did you know who I was?”

“Yes. I recognized you, you haven’t changed that much and Jughead isn’t really a common name, Juggie.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I…I thought that if you forgot me it was probably because you didn’t want to remember me?”

“God, Betty…Eli? I…What’s your name?” He asked, but he didn’t need an answer as soon as he thought of the question, the memory came flooding back.

 

Jughead had snuck out of the trailer to the car parked outside while the mean lady talked to his dad when he saw something move in the back seat. Thinking it was probably a dog, he approached the car slowly, his little hands grabbing the brim of his beanie and pulling it down. Nobody else was out this late, this mean woman only ever came when nobody could see her near the Southside she said, though he didn’t understand why. He tapped at the window “Hello?” His big blue eyes peaked in as he tried to see something in tiptoes.

When a pair of green eyes met his instead he nearly fell from the scare. “Hi.” Her voice was so small, so scared. “Please don’t tell my mom I’m here. I’m not supposed to be here.” She put her finger over her lips in a shush motion and carefully opened the door of the car, Jughead climbed in quickly.

“Oh. I’m Jughead.” He said and she giggled, a sound that made his heart light with happiness.

“I’m Elizabeth. I like your name.”

“I think I’m going to call you Eli.” He said with a shrug and she beamed.

“I like that very much. I’ll call you Juggie. Are you nice?”

“I think I am.”

“Do you have friends?”

“Yeah! They’re the best, you want to meet them?”

Betty quickly shook her head. “Nobody can know about me, okay? Nobody can know I left the house.”

“Oh.”

“Do you go to school?”

“Yes. Don’t you?”

“No.” She said sadly but quickly perked up, “Will you tell me about it Juggie?”

 * * *

Back at the Blue and Gold, Jughead had more questions than answers, “What happened to you? Why did you leave?” He asked, but the words were lost to his quick steps towards her and pulling her into a hug without thinking. He wasn’t sure what was happening, or even if it was real, but he was sure as hell going to figure it out.


	5. Who Are You?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's no way she's here, even as her arms wrap around him, he's not sure what's happening. 
> 
> NOTES:  
> -Unbeta'd, please forgive the mistakes!  
> -Find me on tumblr @girlnextdoorhitchcockblonde
> 
> As always, thank you for reading!!

He wasn’t sure how they had ended up here, Betty’s…Eli’s? arms very carefully and slowly coming up to hold him too and her body molding to his with ease she felt guilty for having.

“Hi, Juggie. I missed you.” She whispered, her breath fanning over his ear making the hairs on the back of his neck rise. Inside him, the words “I missed you too” bubbled, begging to be released, but he didn’t say them, he couldn’t let them out because he wasn’t sure if he had missed her or if he was dreaming her or what was going on.

* * *

The beginning had been so simple, a quick conversation amongst two children who couldn’t possibly be friends or even know one another; but then The Mean Lady, as Jughead called her began visiting more. Not often enough, if he was asked, but each time she came he knew that hidden between the driver’s and back seats, on the floor, hid an angel that snuck out through the unused doggy door of the back of her house and risked punishment he understood all too well to see him. Each time she showed, she looked forward to his stories, they laughed and before The Mean Lady left Eli would remind him that he couldn’t tell anyone about her. Nobody at all or they would both be in a lot of trouble. 

“Who are you supposed to be?” He asked one day, pulling his beanie further down with both hands.

“I’m not sure. A boy, I think. My mom said she wanted one girl and one boy. But she already had a girl.”

“Oh. But you’re the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen. Even in movies!”

“No I’m not! You should see my big sister she’s really pretty. She wears dresses and for her birthday she’s going to be a princess!”

“And you?”

“What do you mean, Juggie? I’m not going, it’s her birthday with her friends and mom’s friends. Not for me.”

“What about your birthday?”

“I don’t have one. I mean, I must have one, but I don’t know what it is. But I’m…this many.” She said holding up five little fingers.

“Me too. I’m five too. I don’t have a party because we don’t have money.”

“I’m sorry. I have a piggy bank you can have.”

Each time they saw each other they got to know more and more about one another. Jughead told her all about his friends and school, he told her about Pop’s and motorcycles and Eli took it all in wanting to know every single detail about the outside world which, to her, consisted only of a dark car ride and Jughead. It wasn’t that they ran out of good things to share, but not so good things also got told, how his dad wasn’t ever home, how his mom was always angry and Eli told him all about her big sister and the Nancy Drew books she read and they formed their own little world made mostly of themselves wrapped in the darkness of a car they shouldn’t be in.

Years went on like this, but when Betty was eight something changed. Her mother started doing something odd, she began checking in her room before going for her weekly visit to the Southside not leaving her enough time to hide in the car before she left.

Missing him terribly, she made the decision to go look for him. She snuck out in the middle of the night and managed to make it all the way to his trailer and knock on the window he had shown her was part of his room. When his eyes peaked out, surprised, he came running.

* * *

“Nobody else knew you. Nobody…you’re not real. You were my imaginary friend, you’re not…real.” He said, still looking at her and letting the memories fall into place and then it came as easily as a river flowing in it’s right path, as painful as a punch in the stomach, as cold as his nights in the school, the night she left for good.

* * *

“I can’t come anymore.” She frowned, “My mom’s checking on me. I don’t know what happened.”

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to say anything. I’m sorry.”

“What did you say?”

“I told my dad that I didn’t mind when The Lady came because that’s when my best friend visited and then I heard him telling her that I must have an imaginary friend, but you’re real and I got angry and I told him, I said you’re real and you have real pretty eyes and I’m sorry, Eli.”

“It’s okay.” She frowned, feeling a lot older than her mere eight years of age, a secret they’d had for so long lost to a moment of frustration. “I have to go.”

“Eli don’t go!” Jughead held onto her hand as hard as he could and begged her to stay.

“Think of me like an imaginary friend, Juggie, nobody can know about me. When you grow up and you’ll think of me and I’ll know that I’m not lonely. Bye Juggie!” The little girl kissed his cheek, her great, big, green eyes shutting to hide the tears in them.

After that night, Jughead really thought of her as an imaginary friend, convinced himself she was just that, a figment of his imagination he couldn’t tell anyone about, and then as he grew he forgot her altogether. Nobody else knew her and just like that, she became a ghost alone and unable to ever leave the confines of her home.

* * *

In the Blue and Gold Betty saw all the memories play out in his eyes. “Hi, Juggie. I missed you.” Her shrug was so small it was barely there and without any thought or understanding of what was happening he began walking towards her, looking at her as if he was studying her features, looking for the little girl who had left him all those years ago.

“I thought I imagined you.” He whispered. “I asked everyone if they knew you. I looked for you but everyone said I was crazy. Alice Cooper only has one daughter. I thought I imagined you.”

“I’m real. I…I think I’m real.”


End file.
